Wednesday, October 17, 2012

With Economic Concerns Still Paramount, Reply! Survey
Reveals Largest Growth Opportunities in Advertising Services Are in
Mobile; Small Businesses Favor Mitt Romney Over Barack Obama by 2 to 1
Margin

SAN RAMON, CA, Oct 17, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) —
Reply!, the leading marketplace for locally-targeted advertisers, today
issued the results of its eighth Merchant Confidence Index,
a survey of local business owners across the country sharing their
confidence levels about the current economy, their expectations of
future revenue and their assessment of marketing services. The data
shows that economic concerns are still weighing heavily on small
businesses, with nearly 60 percent of respondents stating that they
believe the U.S. economy was better off four years ago than it is today.
With these concerns front of mind, SMB investment in many paid
marketing services has stagnated, with very little growth seen in
adoption of daily deals and several other paid services. However, mobile
marketing is the one channel that is heating up in the small business
community.

“Our data shows that American small businesses are still struggling
to recover from the recession,” said Payam Zamani, CEO of Reply.com,
Inc. “As a result, small business owners have turned to free social
media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as marketing vehicles. In
turn, they have slowed their investment in paid marketing services such
as daily deals, though there are still many opportunities for growth
within certain segments of service offerings.”
Key findings include:

1. Small business owners are split on perceptions of economic recovery.
Economic concerns continue to be widespread among small business
owners. Nearly 60 percent of respondents believe that the US economy was
better off four years ago than it is today; only 22 percent of small
business owners believe the economy is better off now, and 21 percent
believe there have been no changes. Similarly, small business owners are
split on their perceptions of future economic recovery. More than
one-third of respondents (37 percent) believe that the economy will be
better off a year from now; while 36 percent believe it will be worse
and 28 percent believe the economy will remain the same.

However, there is a bright spot. Small business owners plan to do
their part to stimulate the economy. More than 23 percent of small
business owners plan to increase their headcount in the next six months,
up from 21 percent in Q4 of 2011. Meanwhile, 50 percent plan to
maintain their current headcount, while only eight percent plan to
reduce their number of employees in the next six months, down from 13
percent last year.

2. SMBs slow to adopt paid marketing services, including daily deals and online reviews.
When asked what free social media platforms they use to promote their
business, nearly 70 percent of respondents state they use Facebook and
33 percent are using Twitter. However, when asked which platforms they
are paying for promotions, only seven percent are tapping into paid
promotions on Facebook and only one percent on Twitter.

Likewise, there has been slow growth of other paid marketing services
such as daily deals and review sites. Only 11 percent of respondents
have run a daily deal over the last six months — the same percentage as
in Q4 2011 — and only 11 percent say that it is likely they will run a
daily deal in the next 3-6 months.
With regards to online reviews, while 46 percent of respondents see
online reviews as helpful to their business, only 10 percent are using
paid services and 90 percent have no plans to start using paid review
services.

3. Mobile marketing is heating up in the small business community.
Small business owners are turning to mobile to support their business
needs. Mobile marketing is on the rise with 8 percent of respondents
currently purchasing mobile ads and 15 percent planning to in the next
3-6 months. Likewise, when asked how likely they are to explore building
a mobile website or mobile app for their business in the next 3-6
months, 16 percent of small business owners stated that they are very
likely to explore this marketing channel. Meanwhile, 17 percent state
that they already have an active mobile app or website.

The survey also reveals that SMBs are more likely to use mobile
services that facilitate transactions such as Square and PayPal, with 14
percent and 20 percent noting their usage, respectively. An additional
11 percent are planning to start using a mobile transaction service in
the next 3-6 months.
4. SMBs unphased by recent high-profile IPOs.

While many SMBs remain pessimistic about economic recovery, these
concerns have not translated into negative perceptions about recent
high-profile IPOs in the social and marketing sectors. When asked about
their perceptions of Facebook as a company after it went public in May,
nearly 70 percent of small business owners said their opinion about the
company did not change.

Likewise, when asked about their perceptions of Groupon as a company
after it went public, the majority (72 percent) of small business owners
stated no change to their perception.

5. Republicans have been more effective at positioning the party as supportive of small business interests.
Mitt Romney is favored 2-1 over Barack Obama as an advocate for
growing small businesses in the United States. Similarly, 52 percent
said Romney was better equipped to lead the US in an economic recovery,
compared to 28 percent who said Obama was better equipped; meanwhile,
nearly 20 percent of small business owners stated that neither candidate
is equipped for the job.

There is also limited favorability for the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA) within the SMB community. 63 percent of
respondents stated that the Act would negatively impact small
businesses, while only one quarter (23 percent) said that the Act would
positively impact small businesses. Only 6 percent stated that they
believe there will be no impact, and 9 percent are unsure.
About the Merchant Confidence Index The Merchant Confidence Index is
an annual survey conducted by MerchantCircle.com, a division of
Reply.com, Inc. The Index is designed to track trends in small business
sentiment over time and is derived from four key questions designed to
synopsize the prevailing trends among local business owners.

This eighth Merchant Confidence Index survey was fielded online,
between September 17, 2012 and September 30, 2012, and sent to a random
sample of MerchantCircle’s member base of about 1.4 million local
business owners. There were 3,434 total responses from local business
owners across the United States. Responding businesses classified
themselves as legal and home services, automotive, health and beauty,
entertainment, travel and more. The survey data can be broken out by
state, business type or business size (by headcount) upon request. No
incentive was offered to complete the survey.
Reply.com, Inc. is not affiliated with any political party. The
results of this survey in no way represent the views of the company.

About Reply.com, Inc.
Reply.com, Inc. operates the leading marketplace for locally-targeted
advertisers. Reply!’s platform provides advertisers of all sizes with a
simple and scalable solution for locally-targeted marketing. Reply! owns
and operates many destination sites including iMotors.com,
Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com, which is the largest online
network of local business owners in the nation with over 1.4 million
member merchants and 17 million monthly local consumer visits. To learn
more about Reply!, please visit www.reply.com.Survey SummarySurvey

New product enables large national brands to build a robust local online presence

San Ramon, Calif. – September 13, 2012 – Reply!,
Inc. today announced the launch of MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, a
new product that enables large, national brands and organizations to
build locally-targeted pages for their members on MerchantCircle.com,
the nation’s largest online network of local business owners.
By building their locally-targeted online presence with
MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, national brands offering local services
can build a more robust online presence and more efficiently reach
local customers. As one of the top six destinations for local searches,
MerchantCircle.com can dramatically increase new customer acquisition
for its members. For example, an insurance company can launch profiles
for each one of their local agents, and have customer inquiries direct
either to each individual agent or to a central corporate location.
“With MerchantCircle Branded Profiles, national brands have an
efficient way to enhance their local presence,” said Payam Zamani,
founder and CEO of Reply!, Inc. “It’s our mission to make
locally-targeted marketing more profitable, targeted and scalable for
advertisers of all sizes. Branded Profiles offers national brands a
unique way to reach their local customers in every state and every city
in the country.”Branded Profiles offer:

Customizable Branding: companies have the ability
to control their image and messaging, so they can bring localized
branding to the individual communities where their customers are
located.

Tools to communicate with consumers: brands can insert customized solutions allowing them to efficiently interact with their customers.

Request a Quote Button: brands have the ability to direct consumers to their website or directly to their local representatives who can serve them.

Call Tracking: merchants can drive calls into a
call center or direct consumers to a local service provider via a
trackable number on their Branded Profiles.

About Reply!, Inc.
Reply! Inc. operates the leading marketplace for the acquisition of
locally-targeted online consumer traffic. Reply!’s platform provides
advertisers of all sizes with a simple and scalable solution for
locally-targeted marketing. Reply! owns and operates many destination
sites including iMotors.com, Contractors.com and MerchantCircle.com,
which is the largest online network of local business owners in the
nation with over 1.2 million member merchants and 15 million monthly
local consumer visits. To learn more about Reply!, please visit
www.reply.com.
Media Contact
Rachel Kahn
Sparkpr for Reply!rachel@sparkpr.com
(415) 321-1881

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Today we announced that Idaho-based
Bonnie Wilks is the winner of the $10,000 Spring Fling Sweepstakes, hosted
by MerchantCircle, the largest online network of local business owners in
the nation. MerchantCircle kicked-off the sweepstakes in February to
celebrate its relaunch as a consumer destination that helps busy people solve
everyday problems.

Winner Bonnie Wilks discovered that MerchantCircle was running a sweepstakes while searching online for local
deals, and promptly entered. At that time, she also joined
MerchantCircle’s “Neighbor” program, which enables consumers to
"follow" local businesses for the latest promotions, coupons and
announcements. Wilks soon found that she loved writing and reading reviews on
MerchantCircle, which today has over 6 million pieces of user generated
content, from ratings and reviews to photos and blogs, to help consumers find
the best local businesses.

“From all of us at
MerchantCircle, congratulations to Bonnie Wilks on winning the Spring Fling
Sweepstakes, we are very proud to have you as part of our neighborhood,” said
Paul O’Leary, GM, MerchantCircle. “We are also so grateful to all our
contest entrants, and we want to thank all of them for joining the
MerchantCircle community.”

MerchantCircle allows consumers
to immediately connect with qualified providers in their local area, get access
to deals, find expert advice and receive free competitive quotes for real-life
tasks. Consumers can find providers across all business categories, including home
repair and improvement; health and beauty; financial and professional services;
construction and real estate services; restaurants; and many others.

The sweepstakes was sponsored by
Reply! Inc., and was open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the
District of Columbia who were, as of entry date, 18 years of age or older. The
sweepstakes period was from February 28 to April 10 of this year only. No purchase was necessary.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Our goal at MerchantCircle is to connect local
shoppers with the best local merchants. We’ve worked tirelessly to make it easy
for people to find great businesses that provide quality services. Our desire
to connect shoppers and businesses continues even when these shoppers may be
searching elsewhere on the Web. That’s why we’ve partnered with Yext
to ensure that MerchantCircle members can get found regardless of where
shoppers are searching.

Guaranteed Presence

Yext
PowerListings allows businesses to
control their local search listings across 35 search engines and directories
including MerchantCircle, Yahoo! And Yelp. Not only does Yext
PowerListings ensure that the name, address and phone
number are correct across their network, but it also allows businesses to
highlight their listings with special offers, detailed business descriptions,
photos and other enhanced content.

Save Time

Business owners no longer have to individually
contact and verify their listings on each search engine or directory.
PowerListings users can quickly and easily make changes to all of the listings
within the PowerListings dashboard.

Track Results

PowerListings gives business owners the
ability to see how many times their listing showed in the search results as
well as how many times their business profile was viewed. With Yext’s granular
tracking and reporting businesses have complete insight and control over their
local search results.

How does your business
look online?

As a business owner, you might not even be
aware of how your business information appears across the Internet. Yext makes
it extremely easy to find out with their free business
listing report. Simply enter your
business information as you would like it to appear, and Yext will create a
report detailing everywhere your business information is missing or inaccurate.

Yext PowerListings has already helped
thousands of local businesses gain control of their local listings, and we hope
it can help you!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

It's often difficult to keep our perspective with the day-to-day demands of working in a fast-paced environment, but, sometimes we need to take a step back and remember that the work we're doing does make a difference in our members' lives.

Check out this great "behind the scenes" video starring several of our members from the Los Angeles area:

So, to our 1.2 million merchant members: we are humbled and honored to have some part in helping your businesses succeed. Best of luck to you and your families and thank you for your support!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

As you know, we recently updated the MerchantCircle.com website experience. It’s only been a few weeks, but we’re happy to report that consumer engagement with the site (especially merchant listing pages) is at its all-time highest level! This means that more consumers are finding more businesses on MerchantCircle than ever before. Customers are spending more time on Merchant business listing pages, and they are reading and writing reviews about Merchants they love. This has been our goal from the very beginning - connecting local Merchants directly with Neighbors who need their products and services.The recent improvements are the direct result of Merchant feedback. We asked what you thought, and you told us what you liked and what you wanted to see done differently. We took what you said to heart and focused on the features and capabilities you valued the most.

The pages are cleaner, less cluttered and it’s much easier to find what you’re looking for.

We will continue to make improvements that make the overall MerchantCircle experience better, faster and more relevant.In fact, on the development side, our MerchantCircle Product Development Team, the magicians behind it all, have been working their magic indeed. The team has been using a version of Agile Product Management (it's a tech thing) that allows us to push updates to the site much more often. This means that we can resolve issues faster, add features quicker and easier, and continue to improve the Merchant and Neighbor experiences as fast as we can.Over the next several months, you can expect to see more features and new capabilities for both Merchants and Neighbors. Here’s a short list of the stuff we’re focused on delivering in the next month or so.

More social media features and functionality

A new mobile app - an extension to the 4.5-star rated Merchant app

Prominent focus on Reviews & Compliments

Optimized search functionality making it smarter and easier to use

Better "request a quote" functionality to reduce the time from search to transaction

Thursday, January 19, 2012

With the new year upon us, lots of folks start thinking about embarking on remodeling projects. Here at MerchantCircle, we spent much of last year remodeling the site, and you could say we learned a few things. We thought we’d share our experiences with all of you out there thinking of taking on a remodeling project, no matter how big or small.

Here’s what we learned...

It’s good to have a plan...but plans change. Looking back, our original plan didn’t take into account the complexity of the task ahead. As we went along, we learned a ton about the site and each other. The biggest lesson: the only way to make real progress is to get out of the “planning” phase and into the “doing” phase.

Everything takes longer than you think. That’s probably true with many things in life, but definitely true with remodel projects. You don’t know what you don’t know, at least until you start tearing things down.

You’re never really “done”. Just when you think you can’t go on a day longer...you will find yourself checking things off your “punch list”. The initial project will get done, but the tweaking, tuning and improving never ends.

If you’ve recently remodeled (your kitchen, a bathroom, or maybe even your business website) share your experience in the new MerchantCircle forum.

Now for the good stuff…

The launch of the new and improved MerchantCircle is a key milestone in the integration of MerchantCircle with Reply!. As you can probably tell from our new homepage, we’re refocusing MerchantCircle a bit to help busy people get things done – big and small – by connecting them with a network of local business owners who are eager to help.